Zorn Labs is a software development studio founded by Michael Zornek and focused on education and consulting services.

For those of you who may not know me, my name is Michael Zornek and I am a programmer with over 20 years experience. I specialize in software development for iOS using Swift and Objective-C but also have experience and interest in developing for the Macintosh as well as the Web. I consider myself a lifelong learner and am currently experimenting with lots of newer technologies including Elixir, Phoenix, and Elm.

Zorn Labs is my development studio, servicing people in the Philadelphia-metro area and remotely around the world.

Consulting Availability: Available for part-time projects.

Education Services

iOS Teaching and Mentoring

If you or your company's iOS team are looking to start or mature their iOS skills, I offer customized training and mentoring services. Each plan is custom built around your specific goals and needs but usually involve weekly or bi-weekly checkins, lectures, custom built lab work and home work evaluations.

Having a dedicated educational resource to help answer questions and direct educational efforts is extremely helpful and can quickly jumpstart people to the next level. I have been teaching for many years in various forms from formalized university, to week long corporate bootcamps, to community efforts like Girl Develop It and Meetup groups such as Philly CocoaHeads.

Consulting Services

With over a decade of consulting experience, I can help you bring your project to life while avoiding much of the uncertainty and stress you might get with other less experienced developers. Demos of past work, available upon request.

iOS Development

I am a senior level iOS developer, with experience reaching back to the early days of Mac OS X. I am well versed in common iOS needs such as networking, Core Data and navigation. I also have production experience with more advanced needs such as bluetooth integration, advance gesture systems and drawing.

Web Development

From simple sites to custom web applications I can help you design and build a site to your exact needs. Technologies I've used in the past span from static site generators like Hugo to more dynamic tools like WordPress. To build custom solutions I've used Ruby on Rails in the past and consider Elixir with Phoenix to be a good modern substitute.

Core Values

I believe in iterative software development.

I believe it’s important to ship software as soon as possible, even though the early versions you’ll ship will be miles away from the ultimate vision.

I believe the most important lessons learned are from the users of your product and the sooner you get this product in their hands the sooner you will know how it needs to change to solve their problems.

I believe in tools that help us get stable solutions to user on a timely basis, including automation, continuous integration, code review, testing and sprint planning.

I believe for a project to be successful all product owners need to be actively involved.

I believe in regular user testing and observation, particularly when it comes to mocking up new behaviors before spending time coding up actual solutions.